


and wash away my colours

by GuardianKarenTerrier



Series: Week Two: AU [6]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Found Family, Gen, Identity Reveal, Kwami Swap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-01 05:07:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20252668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianKarenTerrier/pseuds/GuardianKarenTerrier
Summary: "They want us to swap kwami?" Chat Noir studies his sandwich instead of looking back at Ladybug. They don't normally stop to grab something to eat at the end of patrol, or at least not often, but she'd said she had something she needed to ask him about.Whatever he'd expected, it hadn't been this.





	and wash away my colours

**Author's Note:**

> for the 'swap' prompt for adrienaugreste! thank you [shinobicyrus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShinobiCyrus) for the beta!

"They want us to swap kwami?" Chat Noir studies his sandwich instead of looking back at Ladybug. They don't normally stop to grab something to eat at the end of patrol, or at least not often, but she'd said she had something she needed to ask him about.

Whatever he'd expected, it hadn't been this.

"_Temporarily_," Ladybug stresses, swapping half her sandwich with half of his without looking. "For a day or two. A week at the most. And I think _ they _ is a little generous, anyway; Tikki's pretty insistent, but you've gotta be the one to ask Plagg."

"I don't know if Plagg's going to want to do this." Adrien takes a bite, continuing to avoid her knowing gaze. He really _ doesn't _ think Plagg will like the idea of trading him for Ladybug even for an hour, nevermind a day or two. And what if something happens and it _ isn't _ only a day or two? A week sounds bad enough- what if it's even longer?

And more than that, _ Adrien _ doesn't want to trade kwami. He doesn't _ want _ Ladybug's kwami to talk to after battle or late at night or between classes, he doesn't want Tikki to play piano with him or urge him to go for a run at night. He wants Plagg, selfish as that is. 

Plagg's been trying to convince Adrien that what he considers selfishness isn't always a bad thing. Adrien's been trying to listen. He isn't very _ good _ at it yet, but he has been trying.

Ladybug sets her own sandwich down to reach over and rest a hand on his shoulder. "Ask him anyway, and then I'll tell Tikki he said no."

He meets her gaze reluctantly. "You really think that'll work?"

She shrugs. "I think it's worth a try." She tilts her head and her eyes flash beneath her mask. Softly, she said, "For what it's worth, kitty, I don't like the idea either. But I don't think Tikki would ask if she didn't think it was important."

They'd really finished patrol over an hour ago, so once they've eaten they split up and Adrien picks his slow way back home. He has to detransform and talk to Plagg before they can sleep, and while that's normally something he looks forward to this time he feels like his heart is sinking all the way down to the soles of his feet.

He stands in the middle of his room for a long time, looking at his bed with his pillow tossed haphazardly into a corner alongside the smaller one he keeps for Plagg. He's supposed to make his bed every morning but he's discovered that if he starts to gradually leave one or two things out of place at a time, Nathalie won't notice. Father will, but Father is almost never in his room, and when he is Adrien has plenty of warning.

He can't just stay transformed in his own room for very long, though. Eventually he has to either let the transformation go or go back out the window, and while Adrien knows very well which one he would _ prefer _ he does have to get up and go to school in three hours.

"Claws in," he says finally, quietly, and then turns to tumble into bed as Plagg darts off for his Camembert stash. 

Adrien rolls onto his stomach, burying his face in his pillow and trying hard to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach. Plagg _ won't _ want to do it. He _ knows _ Plagg won't want to do it, and Plagg's not exactly prone to doing things he doesn't want to.

But it's Tikki asking.

It's Tikki asking, and Adrien knows all too well that _ he _ would be willing to do a lot of things outside his comfort zone if it was _ Ladybug _ asking. 

"Kid?" Plagg asks, landing on Adrien's pillow instead of his own. Plagg doesn't use his own pillow much, preferring to share Adrien's. 

Adrien wonders where Tikki sleeps at night.

"Kid," Plagg says again, cleaning Camembert from his whiskers and then ducking down to headbutt Adrien's shoulder. "What?"

Adrien lifts his head, just slightly. "Plagg... Tikki wants us to trade kwami."

Plagg freezes.

"Temporarily!" Adrien assures him, levering himself up on one elbow. "Temporarily, not- you _ know _ I don't want a different kwami. Never."

Plagg huddles closer with a huff. "_G__ood_, 'cause I don't want to try an' train a different chosen."

Adrien snorts and reaches up to cup a hand around his kwami. Plagg curls into his palm, purring, and settles into a more comfortable position. "Ladybug said Tikki thinks it'd be good for us, to get to know each other's kwami and powers."

"Yeah," Plagg mutters. "She would." He sighs. "I'm... not gonna lie to you about it, kid, it _ is _ something almost every cat and ladybug do. Tikki's not- not coming out of nowhere with this one, it _ is _ important."

"Oh," Adrien says, very quietly. 

He hadn't realised how much he'd been counting on Plagg being adamantly against the idea.

"But if she wants to do it then she's gotta know I am _ not _ doing a week," Plagg adds scornfully. "No way, three days _ maximum_. She’s still not getting a week from me."

Three days sounds like three days too long to Adrien. 

Which is ridiculous, and he knows it. He didn't have Plagg at _ all _ before starting school. He can handle three days without him. He won't even be alone, he'll have Ladybug's kwami with him. 

Adrien swallows. "How soon do you think we should try it, then?"

Plagg resettles himself restlessly. "Sooner the better, kid. Sooner it starts sooner it's over."

Oh. Oh, Adrien is _ not _ prepared for that. 

He doesn't want to let down Ladybug or her kwami, but he-

He really did think that Plagg would say no.

Adrien lets Ladybug know at the beginning of their next patrol, but she takes one look at him and insists that they don't have to swap until patrol is over. He's grateful enough that he waits to ask why until they've ended patrol in the shelter of one of the higher roofs they could find.

It has a greenhouse, which they're both immediately drawn to, but more importantly it has plenty of nooks and crannies for them both to hide in. 

"All right," Ladybug says, and he's gratified to see that she looks just as nervous as he feels. Maybe he doesn’t need to ask why she’d waited for the end of patrol after all. "Let's- detransform, and retransform to meet back up out here?"

Adrien takes a deep breath. "Yeah. Yeah, let's- go."

He lets his transformation go crouched in the lee of a chimney, while Ladybug slips into the greenhouse and behind a row of plants. 

"Remember, kid," Plagg says, hovering near enough to eye level that Adrien is forced to meet his eyes. That's not normally something Plagg does. "Three days at the _ most_, okay? And _ talk to Tikki_." Something indescribable snakes into his voice on his last words, just before he glances pointedly down at Adrien's ring. 

Adrien flinches, but he does reach down and, for the first time in as long as he's had it he slides his ring off. 

Plagg vanishes as his ring turns black.

The sick feeling in Adrien's stomach grows, having never really gone away in the first place.

Plagg's been with him nearly all the time since Adrien had first _ met _ him. Even though Plagg's only going to Ladybug, and Ladybug and Plagg himself are the two people Adrien trusts most in the world, he doesn't like not having Plagg _ with _ him. He wants to put his ring right back on and beg Plagg not to go.

He realises distantly that this might be _ why _ Plagg agreed to the swap. 

"Chat Noir?" a very quiet voice says, and after a moment he realises Ladybug is trying to disguise her voice. "I'm gonna hand the earrings around the corner, okay?"

Adrien reaches back without speaking and feels the weight of his ring leave his palm just as her earrings replace it.

Ladybug giggles, but it sounds at least as distressed as he feels. "I should have asked you if your ears are pierced."

They are, actually, but Adrien doesn't advertise that very much. He winces a little as he thinks that he'd better come up with a good excuse for wearing earrings for the next few days. He shouldn't have to worry about needing to do any photo shoots in them unless the swap ends up lasting longer, but if they do go the full three days he has no idea how he's going to avoid any of his classmates noticing.

He's going to need to wear earrings to class occasionally after this just to allay suspicion.

Nino's ears are pierced, too, even if he also never wears earrings; Adrien will have to ask him if he'd wear his for a while too. If Adrien frames it as something rebellious he's doing to annoy his father Nino will jump on the chance, even if Adrien feels terrible for deceiving him like that.

He squeezes his eyes shut and puts Ladybug's earrings on.

"Oh, please don't look so sad," a soft voice says, and Adrien looks up at what can only be Ladybug's kwami. She's hovering just in front of him, directly in front of his face in a way that Plagg never does, and her eyes are huge and worried. "The swap is only temporary, and we try to do it with each pair of chosen. It helps you work as a team."

"We already _ are _a team," Adrien says blankly, and to his surprise and frustration Tikki giggles.

She softens when she sees his expression, flitting closer and hovering just above his shoulder. She doesn't land, which he grudgingly appreciates, because- well, because she's not _ Plagg_.

"I'm sorry," the kwami says, sounding sufficiently abashed. "Of course you are a team. I phrased that poorly. It will help you to be a better team that you already are. You’d be surprised how much you can learn just from a brief time in your partner’s shoes!" She smiles at him. “Or should I say, in her suit?” 

Adrien shifts uncomfortably, not sure what to say to that. Tikki is already a lot more earnest than Plagg ever has been.

"Just say spots on, and we can get you home so we can talk about it," Tikki urges gently.

"Spots on," Adrien says quietly.

He doesn't want to think about going back to the mansion without Plagg there. Plagg understands when Adrien thumps in through his window, gathers his things, and tries to leave again immediately. Plagg's sarcastic, below-human-hearing commentary when Nathalie inevitably catches him on the way out and insists he sit down for breakfast is part of their routine.

"Chat Noir- oh. Huh." His partner's already transformed, blinking at Adrien thoughtfully when he steps back into view. "We'll have to think of something else to call each other." 

She's just as lovely with the Black Cat Miraculous as she ever is as Ladybug, and it's easier than he'd thought to summon up a smile for her. "We could not and enjoy everyone's reactions."

Ladybug laughs. "That's true, I think we're going to end up with too many names to keep track of otherwise." Her eyes soften and she steps towards him. "Want to meet for patrol early the next few nights?"

"Sounds like a plan," Adrien agrees, relieved. If he isn't seeing Plagg for the next few days he can at least see more of Ladybug. "Tomorrow, then?"

Her eyes flick ruefully up to the sky. "Technically, kitty, _ today_. Pound it?"

They bound off in opposite directions.

It’s not until Adrien tries unthinkingly to take to all fours that he realises how different their powers really are. 

He _ can’t _ run the way he wants to, or at least not easily; his fingers don’t bend right, he doesn’t have his claws, he doesn’t have the same sense of balance without his tail. He doesn’t have his baton to lever himself up and over obstacles. 

He’s still more agile and more powerful in the suit than out of it. He can still leap much higher and run much faster (even if running doesn’t feel quite right). That hasn’t changed, at least. 

But these aren’t _ his _ powers and it feels like missing half of himself. 

Aiming Ladybug’s yo-yo takes a lot more concentration and control than vaulting with his baton usually does. It takes Adrien a lot longer to get home than he expects, so that he doesn't have time for anything but detransforming and diving into bed the second he's through the window. 

"What are you-" Tikki starts, flitting around his head, and Adrien frantically shushes her just before the door creaks open.

Tikki squeaks and dives under his pillow.

"Adrien?" Nathalie's voice calls out, already sounding annoyed. "You're running late. I expect you downstairs and ready to go in five minutes."

He waits until he hears the door shut again to sit up, careful not to lean on the pillow Tikki's hiding under.

The kwami flits out and then into an agitated circle. "I didn't realise you cut it so close after patrols." 

He shrugs, leaning against the wall and studying his clothes intently. Transformations usually smooth out any dirt or wrinkles, which has been extremely helpful more times than he can count. When he's sure that it already looks like he's been up and dressed for a while (not technically untrue), he gets up and heads for the door. 

He doesn't exactly know how to answer Tikki without a much longer explanation than they have time for, so he ends up saying, "They don't normally notice as long as I'm downstairs on time, so it doesn't really matter."

Tikki makes a dismayed noise. 

Adrien stops and turns towards her before opening the door, careful to angle his back towards it so that if someone _ does _ open it sooner than he expects the kwami will be out of sight. "Um, Plagg usually just hides in my overshirt. Is that all right, or should I bring my bag down with us?"

Tikki pauses to think about it, then says thoughtfully, "Your bag, I think, if that won't be suspicious."

"Really, they won't notice," Adrien assures her, ducking around her in order to both retrieve his bag and hide his guilty relief. It would feel weird to have Tikki in Plagg's usual spot.

No one comments on his bringing his bag down to breakfast, just like he'd told Tikki. After Nathalie reads out his itinerary and leaves again, there's no one to notice when Tikki peers back out, anyway, so Adrien waves her on to the table. 

Tikki perches, but doesn't quite settle, looking around uneasily. "She doesn't stay to eat with you?"

Adrien shrugs, staring at his plate. Plagg hadn't asked questions, he'd just started in with jokes and sarcastic asides right away, and Adrien is only now realising how much he'd appreciated that. "No, not- Nathalie is Father's assistant, really, she's taking time out to do this at all."

"All she did was tell you to get up and eat," Tikki says, sceptically.

Adrien stabs a pea with a fork a lot harder than he means to. "Yeah. I know."

Thankfully, Tikki doesn't ask him where Father is.

She does, however, flit back out to investigate his door when they're back in his room and Adrien's revealed the piano for practise. That Tikki seems more interested in his bedroom door than in the piano makes Adrien wonder what exactly Ladybug's room is like. 

"How does it lock?" Tikki asks when she flies back over to land on top of the piano.

"The door?" Adrien taps several keys in a discordant jangle of notes. "It doesn't. The Gorilla guards it most of the time, though."

Tikki frowns and looks around the room again, but doesn't say anything else. 

In fact, she's mostly quiet, and Adrien finds himself rapidly wishing it wasn't the weekend after all. He's been relying more than he knew on Plagg's non-stop chatter to fill the silence on days when they're trapped in the house. 

He'd been doing this alone for a lot longer than he's had Plagg. At least Tikki is _ here_, even if she isn't _ his _kwami. He did this alone for years- he should be able to handle having Tikki with him instead of Plagg for a few days. 

Tikki only speaks up a few times, to gently admonish him when his tone is borderline curt towards Nathalie when she tells him to come down for lunch and to ask him whether he's sure he's dividing his studying between topics evenly enough when she realises he's been neglecting other subjects to practise piano for three hours.

"Wait," Tikki says when Nathalie leaves him alone for lunch, too. "Where _ is _your father?"

Adrien drops his fork, not really interested in eating any more. "Working."

When they go back to his room this time, Tikki asks him first if he minds if she takes a look around and then zips off to investigate. Adrien's lips twitch when she finds Plagg's Camembert stash and starts to giggle. 

He really hopes Ladybug remembered to have Camembert on hand for Plagg. Adrien has enough cookies still stashed from times Ladybug's shared them with him that he isn't worried about Tikki, but he had never thought to give her any Camembert- he'll have to remember to bring some tonight.

Tikki spends a lot longer investigating the second story than Plagg ever has, but she also comes back to ask Adrien whether it's okay to inspect certain things, something Plagg has never done.

She finds his Ladybug merchandise fairly easily, but Adrien isn't really making any attempt to hide it from her. It isn’t like he’s ever bothered to hide it from Plagg. He doesn't really hide anything from Plagg.

Finding it does make Tikki come back. Adrien's long since moved on from the piano to going over his homework for the next week, so she finds a clear spot on his desk to land rather than simply knocking things over to make space for herself. "You really do love her."

"Of course I do," Adrien says simply, flipping to a different page. He likes that most of his instructors will give him classwork in advance; not only does it mean an akuma won't hurt his grades so badly, but it means on days like today where Father was adamant that he couldn't leave the mansion, Adrien still has something to _ do_. "She's the most important person in my life."

Tikki starts to say something, stops, and visibly changes gears. "You know she loves you too. Even if-"

"Even if it isn't the same way." Adrien drops his pencil and tries to keep his gaze away from the windows. "I know. She's been- she's been really good about letting me know."

Tikki flutters closer, ducking her head. "I know I'm not Plagg, but is it all right if I don't stay in your bag for dinner?"

"Of course it is, Tikki." Adrien smiles at her, feeling guilty again. Tikki hasn't done anything. It's not her fault that she isn't _ his _ kwami. She's been nothing but kind and respectful, even though she's clearly been more than a little taken aback by his lifestyle.

Plagg usually starts nagging him to patrol directly after dinner. He doesn't expect Tikki to do the same, which is why it's such a surprise when she does.

"_I _ have cabin fever and I didn't think that was possible," Tikki tells him, hovering in front of the window. "Is this why you're always out so early, too?"

Adrien nods, shoving his desk chair back and getting to his feet with a lithe stretch. Something in Tikki's expression changes and after a moment's confusion he realises it's probably because he's still showing the effects of the Black Cat Miraculous, even now.

Personally, he's relieved about that. 

"Adrien," Tikki says, hesitantly. "Can we detransform a little earlier tonight so that I can talk to Ladybug before we come back?"

He would never stop Ladybug's kwami from going to her. "Of course we can."

It takes him a little longer to get to their rendezvous point than usual, still adjusting to yo-yo travel. Ladybug, on the other hand, is there already and looking extremely pleased with herself.

"How's Plagg?" Adrien asks, at almost the exact same time as she asks, "How's Tikki?"

They both laugh, relieved, and Ladybug says, "Let's get to a different spot and talk, okay, kitty?"

Adrien glances down at his spots, then back up at her, and raises an eyebrow.

"I could call you Spot instead," Ladybug tells him dryly.

He laughs and follows when she leaps off the roof.

Ladybug hasn't been terribly clumsy in a long time now, but it's still a surprise to see how easily she's adjusted to his powers instead of her own. Her transformation's claws are more pronounced than his usually are and she frequently uses them to adjust or tighten her grip, scrambling up walls that give Adrien unexpected trouble without his own claws. He isn't adjusting anywhere near as well as she already has.

On the last roof she turns and pulls him up after her, laughter crinkling her eyes behind her mask. "I practised with Plagg earlier today, kitty."

He does feel a lot better hearing that.

At the same time- "I should have thought of that."

Ladybug's lips twitch and he notices with fascination that her transformation gave her fangs, too. "I know Tikki isn't as big a fan of skiving off responsibilities as Plagg evidently is. I am definitely going to regret letting him talk me into sneaking off when it catches up to me tomorrow."

Adrien grins, perfectly able to picture that. "Plagg's not a fan of responsibility. Or rules."

Ladybug waves him over to where the adjoining roof forms a sheltered area and takes a seat. Adrien drops down beside her, purring slightly when she reaches over to ruffle his hair, startling them both. 

"You can still do that?" Ladybug asks him, delighted.

"I guess so." Adrien blinks, his purr rumbling to a halt, and then realises he can still hear purring. He laughs, equally delighted. "And it looks like I'm not the only one, my Lady."

She blushes and swats at him playfully. "Shh, you. Your Miraculous is a little more fun than I expected, that's all. How is the Ladybug going for you?"

Adrien blinks down at his hands, curling his fingers in and missing the brush of claws. "No offence, LB, but I think I like being the Black Cat more."

"Aww, minou." Ladybug shifts up to prop an elbow on his shoulder, something she has to fight to maneuver with their height difference, and Adrien starts to wonder if Plagg's inspired her to be more mischievous than she normally would be. "I like you better as my kitty too, to be honest. I like Plagg but Tikki is- Tikki is special to me, you know?"

"I know," Adrien replies quietly, thinking of just how many times he's missed Plagg today alone. They have at least one more day to go and even though it's not long at all it seems to stretch out forever. "She wants to talk to you when we're done with patrol."

"Oh, good." Ladybug leans on him more heavily, then springs to her feet, tilting her head with a grin that shows just the barest flash of fangs.

Adrien's breath catches, looking up at her, and it takes him longer to scramble to his own feet than it should. 

"Let's go get started on that patrol, then, kitty," Ladybug says slyly, and turns slightly on one heel. Balanced on the edge of the roof, she calls back, "Catch me if you can!" and leaps. 

Adrien stares, stunned, for far too long before leaping after her. If he'd thought before that there was a possibility that Plagg was influencing Ladybug's behaviour, now he's certain of it.

She's still thoughtful. Though she leads him on a merry chase over Paris' skyline, only occasionally dropping to the streets, she sticks to their more usual routes and haunts and even slows down whenever he starts to fall too badly behind.

"I think," Ladybug finally says, turning to catch and steady him on the roof of an old abandoned warehouse, "We need to get you some more practise." She nods at the roof below her feet. "This is where Plagg took me earlier. Meet you inside?"

Adrien glances over the edge. He's been here, but he hasn't been inside before because it's locked up pretty securely. "How are we getting in?"

"Um." Ladybug's grin turns sheepish and she steps aside, revealing a large portion of the roof behind her that's been corroded beyond all hope of saving. "I sort of Cataclysmed my way in earlier? And you weren't here to use a Lucky Charm, so-" She gestures behind her.

"My lady!" Adrien grins with delight. "Is Plagg a bad influence on you? He has you breaking and entering already!"

"The place is _ abandoned_, no one will notice!" Ladybug defends herself, laughing.

"Is that what Tikki would say?" Adrien teases, following his Lady into the depths of the warehouse. "She thinks I should be more polite, you know."

Ladybug seems to pause for a moment at that, but it's dark enough and she starts moving again quick enough that he's not sure he saw it at all.

She does stop and turn once she reaches an open space, though. Discarded and decaying boxes, some empty and some not, litter the warehouse in uneven and likely unstable piles, but there's a rough circle in the middle clear of dust and debris that must have been where Ladybug came to practise earlier. "Tikki can be like that. She says the same thing when I’m...less than civil with certain people in my life. You really aren't normally rude, kitty, but I'm sure you had a reason. So," she grins, just as fiercely as before, and twirls his baton. "Ready for that practise?"

Adrien considers her for a moment, then flicks out her yo-yo to wrap around his staff and fling it back towards himself. He catches it one-handed and grins back. "Are _you_?"

They end up switching weapons frequently while they dash and dart around the warehouse, climbing towers of boxes and leaping off them as they topple to the floor, catching ceiling beams and swinging from them or scrambling along them. They spend a few hours taking turns hiding from each other and Adrien's going hand-over-hand hanging from a crossbeam when Ladybug abruptly drops down in front of him and sends him tumbling with a yelp. 

"I like the night vision," she tells him brightly, catching him with her yo-yo before he can hit the ground, which is good because she's somehow ended up with his staff as well. "It's really useful." She tilts her head. "You were still purring- do you still have the night vision?"

He flips upright and onto the beam as she hauls him up. "Yes, but it's not as good as it normally is. It's like- like things are _ trying _ to hold over, but aren't quite managing. What about you?"

She shrugs, a liquid motion that has more than a little cat in it already. "Sort of? I still don't like the cold and I still like plants, but it was always hard to tell how much of that was from Tikki, anyway." She tilts her head back the other way, expectantly.

Adrien shakes his head. "No, I'm not noticing anything from Tikki. I don't have plants, though, and my room is- we've been warm all day."

"Ah," Ladybug says, sounding faintly disappointed. "No way of knowing, then."

They train (or play, Adrien thinks privately) a little longer, before it's late enough that Adrien should be going and later than Ladybug usually suggests ending patrol. 

"Our kwami still want to talk to us," Adrien reminds her right after they ride another crumbling tower of boxes to the floor. This time, he manages to snag a beam with the yo-yo and pull himself free, while Ladybug simply rolls to freedom. "I brought Camembert in case you didn't have any, too."

"Aw, kitty." Ladybug gestures towards one of the still-standing towers of abandoned boxes, indicating the possible hiding spots just behind it. "That's thoughtful of you. I have some, but I know Plagg would prefer more."

Adrien eyes her. "You know Plagg would _ always _ prefer more, right?"

"Why don't you give it to him, once we've detransformed so we can talk to them," Ladybug suggests gently. 

Adrien is desperately glad to see Plagg, no matter how he tries to hide it. Plagg, for his part, rushes to his favourite spot on Adrien's shoulder, nestled against his neck, and headbutts him before darting back into the air and hovering agitatedly in front of him. "How's it going, kid?"

"It's fine, Plagg," Adrien assures him, shifting uncomfortably. Plagg is unnaturally perceptive when Adrien tries to lie to him. "It was just, you know, a normal Saturday. Nothing to worry about."

Plagg's eyes narrow. "Uh huh. How many times have you played Lizst today?"

Adrien drops his eyes and rubs the back of his neck.

Plagg crosses his arms and eyes him sidelong, but then drops to Adrien's shoulder with a reassuring purr anyway. "It's all right, kid, me an' Tikki'll talk real quick before you two head home. Doubt she's gonna wanna go a full three days."

Adrien looks up, sharply, even though Plagg isn't hovering any longer, and his kwami groans before Adrien can even say anything.

"_No_, kid," Plagg says, surprisingly gently, and Adrien starts to suspect that if he's been influencing Ladybug she's been influencing him right back. "Not 'cause of you. Not 'cause of anything you _ did_, anyway."

Reluctantly, Adrien accepts that.

It takes a while for their respective borrowed kwami to return to them, and Adrien finds a spot on the floor where he can put his back to a pillar and draws his knees up to his chest to wait. 

He doesn't expect to hear the shifting on the other side of it.

"LB?" He says, finally, because it isn't like it could be anyone else. 

She sighs. "Yeah, kitty. I think they're still talking about us."

"Ah." Adrien lets his head thump back against the pillar. "What do you think they're saying?"

"Honestly?" She sounds concerned and guilty, too, which makes him feel a little better. "I have no idea. But I'm kind of hoping they want to switch back early."

He smiles, tiredly. "What, you don't enjoy all the wheedling to shirk your responsibilities and go have fun instead?"

There's silence for just long enough that he starts to worry that he's actually upset her.

Just before he can apologise, Ladybug says, "I don't like the way he thought we had to choose between responsibilities and fun. Chat Noir, you can have both those things. You can be responsible and still- still go out and have fun."

"I do," he says, quietly. "I had fun tonight. I have fun out with you."

There's more rustling. "I meant as a civilian, Chat. I love hanging out with you, too, but this shouldn't be your _ only _ outlet."

He shifts uncomfortably himself, enough that when he resettles against the pole his elbow knocks against hers. She doesn't move away, though, instead pressing back towards him. He thinks if they were transformed she'd already have rounded the column anyway. "It isn't my _ only _ outlet."

"Plagg sort of made it sound like it was." She sounds unhappy now. "Or at least like it's your main way to escape."

She still has another day with Plagg. There's probably no point to pretending she's wrong. Plagg _ will _ tell Ladybug as much as he can without sacrificing Adrien's privacy, he knows that. She's going to know exactly how right she is. "It's all right, LB, I do get out with Plagg a lot more frequently than I was ever able to before."

"Chat, that's _ worse_." He hears her actually start to twist around to talk to him before catching herself. "You shouldn't need to have a kwami with you just to get out of the house."

"I don't necessarily _ need _ to have a kwami to get out. The house has windows, I know how to climb."

"_Chat Noir- _"

Whatever else she's about to say is cut off by their kwami's reappearance.

_ Their _ kwami; it's Plagg who's zipped back to Adrien, not Tikki.

"Plagg?" Adrien asks, already cupping his hands for Plagg to land in. "Weren't you going back with-"

"About that, kid," Plagg says, grinning in a way that is, frankly, a little worrying. 

"Chat Noir?" The rustling from the other side of the column becomes a lot louder and more pronounced, and when Adrien realises why he slams his eyes shut. 

Ladybug's gotten up and come around to his side of the pillar, and she still isn't transformed.

"Chat Noir," Tikki's voice says next. "I talked to Plagg. I think- we _ both _ think you two should tell each other your identities."

"What?" Adrien says blankly, still not opening her eyes.

He feels Ladybug sit down across from them. 

"I'm not looking until or unless you do, kitty," she says quietly. "But both of them seem awfully convinced, and Tikki's never thought that I should tell you before."

Adrien swallows and tries to say something, but the words stick in his throat. He'd really expected to leave with Tikki and have another day just like today, then go right back to their established routine. In a lot of ways he'd been looking _ forward _ to a return to that established routine. This is- something he _ wants_, yes, but it isn't something he's really let himself think he could _have_, and that makes it terrifying.

"Chat Noir." Ladybug leans forward and very gently takes his hands in her own. "It's all right. I'm _ telling _you it's all right. You can know."

"I thought it was too dangerous," he finally manages, his fingers curling around hers despite himself.

"It is dangerous. But Plagg says you're hurting, and that's more important to me," Ladybug says firmly. "And anyway, kitty, that's probably _more_ dangerous. I don't want to see you akumatized because I didn't listen to your kwami."

"Ladybug," he says, nearly voicelessly. "Are you sure?"

She squeezes his hands. "I'm sure. I promise I'm sure. On the count of three, okay?" She waits for his nod, before squeezing his hands again and counting down. "One, two... three."

He opens his eyes. 

Marinette looks at least as stunned as he feels. 

She doesn't let go of his hands, though.

"Oh," he breathes quietly, thinking of all the things he's admired about her, the time he'd actually called her his everyday Ladybug. "How could I not know it was you?"

She's blinking rapidly, like she can't quite take in what she's seeing yet, and then she laughs a little shakily and shuts her eyes again before leaning forward and resting her forehead against his. He hadn't even realised he'd moved to meet her. "Can you keep talking, Chat? I'm, uh, I think I'm going to need a little longer to process this than you."

He's happy to oblige. 

They don't make it back from patrol at all that night. By the time the sun is rising, Marinette's invited him over and their kwami have started working out ways to make sure Adrien's not in trouble when he doesn't appear for meals back at the mansion.

He thinks they're plotting more than that, because Plagg's not talking like they're only staying at Marinette's for the day, but he's still too stunned and happy to ask. 

He'll find out soon enough, anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> title is from starset's 'my demons!'


End file.
